Insecticidal

Sophomoric, amateurish, pathetic, cheesy, junky, lame, boring, second-rate garbage is what is in store for you in this super-dumb dork fest of a low budget film that uses computer graphics that seem to have been done on a commodore 64 for the monsters. It's beyond lame kiddos. Watch this if you want to damage your brain.

PLOT: Spraying raid on some bugs makes them turn into giant monsters. The monsters look like crappy computer graphics from a 3rd rate video game.

THere isn't much else to say about this other than the women in this movie are also 3rd rate in the looks dept.

Ah, giant bug movies. If you're like me, you fondly remember films like "Them," "Tarantula" and maybe even "Eight-Legged Freaks." "Insecticidal" aims for that same genre...sort of. The premise is simple: a sorority house gets attacked by giant bugs. You know how this movie will go. People will be hacked apart by the merciless arthropods, the house will be turned into a battleground, and yes, there will be lesbians.

In all truth, there are decent parts to this film. The movie doesn't take itself too seriously, acknowledging at points its own cheesiness. The actors and actresses who play our main characters pull off their less-than-Shakespearean lines pretty well. And, of course, there is eye candy to be found here.

Unfortunately, the film suffers from painful amounts of stupidity when it comes to the bugs and pretty much anything involving them. For instance, Cammy, the nerd (we know she's a nerd because she wears glasses) creates the monsters by accident. That would work for this setting, except for the REASON behind it. She states that she was mocked by her professors for her outlandish theory that "insects used to be the dominant species," and that she was experimenting on them to prove that they had "dormant genes." A combination of these experiments and some pesticide exposure activated these genes and made the bugs grow huge.

First, the claims that bugs were once dominant on Earth: No @#$%, Sherlock! Back in the Carboniferous period (300 million years ago) arthropods DID rule the world. There were dragonflies with 3-foot wingspans, centipede/millipede relatives from 5 to 10 feet long and scorpions 3 feet long. The idea that any modern scientist would mock Cammy for stating what's already true is just idiotic.

Second, the whole "dormant genes" idea: It's possible (although REALLY unlikely) that modern arthropods do hold dormant genes from their Carboniferous ancestors, but how the heck did Cammy manage to turn those genes on? It remains a mystery.

"Insecticidal" also suffers from what I like to call pseudo-intelligence. When the filmmakers want you to think that a character is smart, they have him or her use really long words, even if those words make no sense. When the giant praying mantis appears, Cammy classifies it with a long, Latin-sounding name. The problem is that the praying mantis's REAL scientific name is simply "Mantis religiosa" The final thing that hurts this film is that the special effects aren't so special. If brought to life effectively and accurately, the giant insects, arachnids and other invertebrates in "Insecticidal" could be terrifying. The praying mantis (a major enemy in the movie) has a ridiculous Kermit-the-frog mouth and the annoying habit of knocking people to the ground and apparently whacking them repeatedly with its forelegs. A real praying mantis attack is far more disturbing: it's spiny forelegs snatch prey in the blink of an eye and simply hold it there while the insect's blade-like mouth-parts methodically chew through the living victim. That would have been far more frightening than being slapped to death by Kermit the bug.

There are so many things wrong with this movie (herbivorous stag and rhinoceros beetles are shown eating people, as well as everything I already mentioned) that I can't rank it highly. That said, I'm actually recommending this film. It's so incredibly bad that you can have your own Mystery Science Theatre night with it.

To say this "movie" is awful is not enough. Too bad that IMDb does not contain negative numbers to rate this piece of trash. I originally thought at least prepubescent boys might like this movie for the female eye candy but looking at the laughable CGI I think they would hate this movie also. The plot is lame, acting is so bad where the "reality shows" are Oscar material compared to this. Did I mentioned the special effects or lack of? The CGI looks like it were done not on a Commodore 64, like the above commenter mentioned, but on a Tandy TRS-80. Especially the Praying Mantis, it looks like someone did not even bothered to look at an insect book, an Animal Planet documentary, or even the old b&w sci-fi movie, THE DEADLY MANTIS, to get an accurate rendition of the a praying mantis. Imagine a crudely drawn bug (ala 5 yo kid) with a Kermit the Frog head and you pretty much get the idea how bad the mantis was "created". I think everyone involved made this movie for some film class they are taking at the college they maybe attending. I can not believe they took themselves seriously when they made this barf bag of a film. I just want to say to future film students watch this as a lesson IN NOT WHAT MAKE and you will live a long happy life.

With so-called 'special' effects that may very well rival "the Thing Below", this tale of giant intelligent bugs that terrorize sorority girls is bad in every possible way. The acting's awful, the plot's overtly stupid, and the aforementioned special effects make the whole thing laughable, if not for the fact that you'll be too depressed that you've wasted about an hour and a half on this garbage. Even nudity can't save this from falling into the abyss of the dreaded DVD bargain bin. Not that bargain can be used in any connotation when referring to this movie. No matter which way you slice it, simply dreadful. Good thing that Director Jeffery Lando holds three citizenships, become this film (and his others) are so bad that his American should be revoked.

My Grade: F

Eye Candy: the unfortunately named Chris Guy shows everything she's got; Rhonda Dent shows T&A; Anna Farrant and Natalia Tudge just show tits

The fun factor is huge and that's is what matter. I liked the story and the talented Meghan Heffern, the actress who played the role of "Cami"in Insecticidal. I think the effects are not the crucial point to make a good movie. The concept of good movies is subjective. There are movies with great story and bad effects and so the opposite. I founded the DVD here in Brazil and enjoyed, the image quality is not bad. I'm a B-movie and horror movie fanatical and does not get disappointed. When i think one movie is not good, i don't want to see it again and it's not the cause with this gem. I will see it again. The Japanese girl is amazing too. I wished the movie could have at least 120 minutes, to get more fun. Do not skip this, the bugs are fun and pesky.